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Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Wyoming lawmaker invokes Jesus in support of the death penalty

The Wyoming Senate recently defeated a bill that would have
repealed the state’s death penalty, ending the most successful legislative
attempt to do away with capital punishment in recent memory, reported the Casper Star Tribune.

Having passed the House by a safe margin, the bill was
swiftly voted down by the Wyoming Senate on its first reading. The final vote
was 12-18.

“The vote was different than I expected to see from talking
with people beforehand,” said the bill’s sponsor in the Senate, Brian Boner,
R-Converse. “There’s a lot of different factors and, at the end of the day,
everyone has to make their best determination based on the information they
have.”

Sen. Lynn Hutchings, R-Cheyenne, argued that without the
death penalty, Jesus Christ would not have been able to die to absolve the sins
of mankind, and therefore capital punishment should be maintained.

“The greatest man who ever lived died via the death penalty
for you and me,” she said. “I’m grateful to him for our future hope because of
this. Governments were instituted to execute justice. If it wasn’t for Jesus
dying via the death penalty, we would all have no hope.”

Wyoming has not executed a prisoner since 1992. According to
Wyoming Department of Corrections Director Bob Lampert, the average death row
inmate costs the agency 30 percent more to incarcerate than a general population
prisoner, with an average stay of 17 years.

About Matt

An analysis of crime and punishment from the perspective of a former prosecutor and current criminal justice practitioner.
The views expressed on this blog are solely those of the author and do not reflect the opinions or postions of any county, state or federal agency.